A Practical Vision of a More Equal Society, by Thomas Piketty
One of the most interesting sections of the book focuses on the British debate over the poll tax. This is a notoriously forfeitary tax, or lump-sum tax, as economists say it—one pays the same sum in pounds sterling whether one is rich or poor. It was imposed by Margaret Thatcher in 1989–1990 in place of the old rates tax, which was a proportional tax levied on housing, with the sum due increasing in rough proportion to the value of one’s home. The poll tax therefore resulted in a sharp tax hike for the poorest taxpayers, and a drastic drop for the richest ones. To say that this reform was unpopular is to put it mildly: urban rioting and parliamentary insurrection ensued, while the Iron Lady stubbornly dug in her heels until she was finally voted out of power by the Conservative MPs in November 1990 and quickly replaced by John Major, who promptly abolished the poll tax.